Have you ever played "Jim Power: The Lost Dimension"? It's an obscure French DOS (and SNES) game, and it's currently available on Steam. And it has UNCOMFORTABLE levels of parallax scrolling. Why is that?
That's because the full title of the game is "Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3D" 
But where is the 3D? Is it in the options? No, it's not. And the game manual states that you can just put on the included glasses at any time and the game will turn 3D!
The included glasses are different from your usual anaglyph 3D glasses. The left lens is very dark, and the right is kind of not.
That's because they use something called Pulfrich effect. It creates an illusion of 3D based on motion and the fact that the eye covered with a darker lens takes longer to process the image. It's quite an interesting solution!
You don't need special lenses to view the effect at all! Just cover up your left eye with sunglasses or anything else that obscures light, and take a look at the game footage again. 🕶
It's worth mentioning that @Pikointeractive are currently running a crowdfunding campaign to get Jim Power re-released, & that includes a brand new NES version of the game, finishing unfinished versions, and "fixing" the SNES one. No 3D currently though.
kickstarter.com/projects/retro…
kickstarter.com/projects/retro…
The Pulfrich effect was used in one more game I know of. Orb 3D on the NES. There are very few moving object in that case, but they create a neat effect of going in front of and behind the playing field. The dark lens should be over the *right* eye
The effect was also used in commercials and TV, most notably in episodes of Dr. Who and 3rd Rock From The Sun.
But the weirdest use of the effect comes from a German show Tutti Frutti, which is that European game show that has ladies stripping topless that some European countries licensed (Colpo Grosso, The Desire Empire, etc.) The effect was used during stripping sequences!
A few episodes of Tutti Frutti are on YouTube, nudity included, but most are in such terrible resolution and so compressed that you can't observe the effect even if you try.
And that's it for today's Science + #DOSGaming thread!
